ASUS Xonar U5 USB External Sound Card for PC & Laptop - High-Quality 5.1 Channel Audio for Gaming, Music & Movies

I had a problem where all the cheap 5.1 and 7.1 USB sound cards (which probably used the same chip internally) would occasionally switch channels, so the wrong channel was coming out of the wrong speaker. I went through 3 different cheap USB sound cards that all had this problem. During the pandemic, this suddenly became a problem if, during a zoom call, the zoom audio started coming out of the subwoofer!Finally, I gave up and bought this more expensive sound card. The sound doesn't seem appreciably better (though to my ears DACs matter a lot less than speakers and headphones). But it's rock-solid under linux and has been completely reliable. Also, the cheap DACs sometimes send a pop through my powered monitors when I reboot my machine, and this one doesn't have that problem.